1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to computers and the hosting of web sites. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for determining the most cost effective service plan for hosting a web site, and automatically switching to that service plan.
2. Related Art
The advent of e-commerce has led to the rapid expansion of the Internet and the web hosting business. The number of new web sites continues to grow exponentially. In addition, hundreds of new services are being created and offered daily. Making heads or tails of this can be a daunting task for the new-comer as well as the seasoned veteran in this electronic arena.
Currently, web hosting customers must select the type of web hosting account that they desire. They must consider numerous variables when choosing a web hosting plan. These variables range from the amount of bandwidth that the web site is going to consume, to the amount of disk space and memory that the web site is going to utilize, and to the amount of lag time that the system will allow before sending its content to the user.
The main problem with this situation involves choosing the service plan that best fits the user""s needs. When entering into a web hosting agreement, it is difficult to anticipate the future requirements of a web site. How much bandwidth is needed? How much disk space is required for the web site? If these were static numbers, then the answer would be simple. Once all of the numbers are known, informed decision can be made, and the user is able to revise the service plan accordingly. Unfortunately, the web is dynamic in nature, and what might be the proper fit for today might not be appropriate tomorrow or next week. As this dynamic evolves, it takes dedicated observation and foresight to determine if changes need to be made, and to proactively implement those changes.
What is needed in this situation is a method and an apparatus that measures the statistics of a web site and compares those numbers against the set of available service plans in order to select the most cost effective service plan for hosting the web site.
One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that automatically adjusts a web hosting service plan for a web site based upon measured usage of the web site. The system measures the usage statistics of the web site, compares the usage statistics against a set of available service plans for the web site, determines if staying with the current service plan results in a lowest cost, and switches the service plan to the plan with the lowest cost if applicable.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the service plan specifies a fixed cost for a maximum amount of bandwidth, and an additional cost for additional bandwidth over the maximum bandwidth.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the system measures the following usage statistics: bandwidth resulting from accesses to the web site, disk space used by the web site, response time of the web site, and memory space used by the web site.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the system switches service plans automatically.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the system switches service plans by notifying a user of the intended switch and by receiving a request back from the user to execute the switch.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the acts of measuring, comparing, determining, and switching are performed automatically by a computer system, without human intervention.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the system additionally accepts a selection of the current service plan from the set of available service plans.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the system additionally accepts a selection of the current service plan from the set of available service plans by setting an upper threshold for a fixed periodic cost for the current service plan and/or by setting a lower threshold for the fixed periodic cost for the current service plan.